Erdan: Gov’t Won’t Let Me Deport Terrorists

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Thursday that he had given up on trying to pass a law that would allow Israel to deport the families of terrorists from Yehuda and Shomron to Gaza. In a speech at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center discussing the terror threat, Erdan said that he had been unable to convince the Attorney General and others in the judicial system that the law should be implemented.

Under the law, Israel would have been able to increase the sanctions on terrorists’ families, adding another tool to its mix of legal means to encourage families to prevent children from committing terror attacks. Currently, the courts have authorized the demolition of houses of terrorists’ families, and the revocation of their work permits, as legal sanctions.

But deportation will not be implemented, at least under the current political reality in Israel. “I tried to promote this law, but had been unable to do so” because “the former and current attorneys general believe that this would be illegal,” Channel Ten quoted Erdan as saying.

Regarding ways to prevent terror attacks, Erdan said that in recent weeks security officials have been paying a lot more attention to social media, as terrorists have been announcing their intentions in advance on networks, further fueling the incentive to attack among other young people. “We are planning to further expand our examination of social media,” he said. “The social networks have become an ‘accelerator’ for those seeking to carry out attacks. We see a clear connection between what is happening on the social networks and the number of attacks we experience.”

Erdan added that his refusal to hand over the bodies of terrorists killed by Israeli forces was not due to any an attempt to avenge the Israeli victims of terror, or to make the families of the terrorists suffer. The purpose is to prevent the funerals of the terrorists from turning into shows of “martyrdom,” where their actions are lauded and others are further influenced to carry out attacks.